Thomas Built Buses
Thomas Built Buses is a company that makes school buses and it's headquarters and manufacturing plant is in High Point NC and the address is of the headquarters and manufacturing plant is 1408 Courtesy Rd, High Point, NC 27260. This company was founded by Perley A. Thomas. History of Thomas Built Buses The history of Thomas Built Buses reads much like the history of modern mass transportation. It begins in 1916 in the small North Carolina city of High Point. Economic hard times created by World War I forced the closing of Southern Car Works, a major streetcar manufacturer based in High Point. Canadian-born car designer Perley A. Thomas lost his job as chief engineer for the company, but a few months later was contacted by Southern Public Utilities Company and asked to consider putting together a crew to renovate several streetcars he had designed for his former employer. Within weeks, Thomas had reassembled many of his former coworkers, purchased a building in downtown High Point and opened the Perley A. Thomas Car Works. Thomas' reputation in the industry opened doors nationwide and within a few years, Thomas-built streetcars were carrying passengers in many of North America's largest cities. By the late 1930s, cars and buses were beginning to make streetcar transportation obsolete. Perley A. Thomas Car Works adapted, and in 1936 ceased production of streetcars and launched a new product: school buses. As the 1940s began, Perley Thomas continued to provide his design skills to the company even as he began turning over day-to-day operation of the business to his children. He actively served as a design consultant to the business until the time of his death in 1958 at the age of 84. Thomas's children and grandchildren proved to be worthy business leaders and smart bus designers, and by the early 1960s, the Thomas Car Works had built a national reputation in the school bus business. Then in 1972, to better reflect its core business, the company changed its name to Thomas Built Buses. In 1977 Thomas introduced its first bus chassis and began producing the popular Saf-T-Liner® transit-style bus. Thomas expanded to manufacture a smaller school bus, the Minotour, and entered the commercial transit market in the 1980s. In 1998, Thomas Built Buses became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freightliner LLC, a Daimler company. The strength of Freightliner LLC, now known as Daimler Trucks North America LLC, has helped Thomas grow and adapt to changes in the transportation industry. In 2004 Thomas added a 275,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art plant in High Point to manufacture the Saf-T-Liner® C2. The C2 is a next-generation conventional bus designed from the ground up for superior durability, reliability and safety. Due to fast adoption of the Saf-T-Liner C2 by the market, in November 2006, Thomas manufactured its last FS-65 conventional bus and retired the product. Leveraging the success of the C2 and responding to customer demand for green technology, Thomas introduced the hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2e in 2007. The C2e, powered by both a diesel engine and an electric motor/generator, offers charge-sustaining technology. Also in 2009, Thomas launched its new MyBus® Type A product, specifically designed for childcare and activity centers, service organizations and churches. MyBus is available in three models. In 2011, Thomas Built Buses became the first, and remains the only, school bus manufacturer to achieve Zero-Waste-to-Landfill operations, demonstrating its industry leadership as a driving force in facility waste management and environmental commitment. As a leading North American manufacturer of school buses, Thomas Built is committed to continuing to offer innovative vehicles that are safe and reliable, and recently introduced the Saf-T-Liner® EFX, a redesign of its front-engine, transit-style bus. Updates in bus designs like the EFX reflect the company's commitment to continuous improvement and its drive to deliver a full line of best-in-class products. Today, the more than 95-year-old company operates several manufacturing plants in High Point, N.C. producing Type A, C and D buses and Type D chassis. More than 50 dealers provide sales and service support throughout North America. As the market evolves, so will Thomas Built Buses. Company industry and Milestone 1869 – Massachusetts became the first state to enact legislation allowing public funds to be used for transporting children to school. Local farmers were paid by the state to transport people in horse-drawn wagons. Early 1900s – Motorized vehicles began to replace horse-drawn wagons for transporting people to school. Typically these were flatbed trucks with wooden sides and canvas roofs. 1916 – Perley A. Thomas Car Works was established to build and renovate streetcars. 1927 – School bus manufacturers began building all-steel bus bodies. 1936 – Perley A. Thomas Car Works began manufacturing school buses. 1939 – The color National School Bus Glossy Yellow, originally called National School Bus Chrome, was established as the official color of school buses during a conference of school transportation officials and manufacturers in New York. 1942 – School bus production stopped during World War II as bus manufacturers switched to production of war materials. 1954 – The “Brown vs. Board of Education” case outlawed segregation on public and school buses by prohibiting “separate but equal” facilities. 1967 – The National Transportation Safety Board was established as a federal agency. The same year, it issued the first School Bus Highway Accident Report detailing information on school bus accidents. 1972 – Perley A. Thomas Car Works changed its name to Thomas Built Buses to better reflect its core business. 1977 – Thomas introduced its own rear-engine Type D chassis. 1992 – Thomas introduced a rear-engine HDX compressed natural gas (CNG) school bus. 1994 – Thomas began building its own front-engine Type D chassis. 1996 - The current logo was introduced. 1998 – Thomas Built Buses was purchased by heavy-duty truck maker Freightliner LLC, now Daimler Trucks North America LLC, and became part of the Daimler AG family. 2002 – Thomas broke ground on a $40 million, 275,000 square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. 2004 – After years of market research, design, testing and fabrication, Thomas Built Buses launched the Saf-T-Liner® C2, a new conventional-style school bus that redefined the Type C category. Thomas Built Buses Company & Industry Milestones, 2006 – Thomas Built Buses retired its FS-65 conventional design. 2007 – Thomas Built Buses introduced the Saf-T-Liner® C2e, a diesel-electric hybrid school bus. 2008 – Thomas Built Buses completed a $10 million remodel of its Courtesy Road manufacturing facilities where the Type A and Type D buses are built. 2009 – MyBus®, a new activity bus from Thomas Built Buses, was created to fill the unique small-group transportation needs of childcare and activity centers, churches, service organizations, small businesses, police departments and other groups. 2010 – Thomas adopts selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to meet new EPA emission requirements. 2011 – Thomas Built Buses achieves Zero-Waste-to-Landfill status and introduced the Saf-T-Liner® EFX, a redesign if its front-engine, transit-style bus. 2012 – Thomas Built Buses is designated a North Carolina Environmental Steward, due to superior environmental performance, commitment to continued reduction of its environmental impact and demonstrated commitment to exceed compliance regulations. Category:School bus companies